Abstract:

Buying behaviour is a complex, wide– ranging field, intricately associated with human mental
processes, responding to environmental stimuli. Understanding the customer and being able
to predict their behaviour, is of prime importance to all marketers and marketing strategists
for two reasons: Firstly because, the overall strategy of the company has to be clearly
reflected in the marketing strategy for any meaningful progress. Secondly, to be able to
adjust or adapt the marketing effort to changing marketing conditions.
The focus of this study is to research the buying behaviour of farmers through the
marketing mix paradigm. Although slightly contentious in terms of recent theories and field
of application, the dichotomous nature of farmers buying behaviour and the characteristics
of the purchase makes this theory a good fit for the circumstances. The marketing mix
theory focuses on the controllable external stimuli which reinforces the practical application
of this study.
The buying behaviour of farmers was researched by asking farmers to evaluate the
importance of a statement related to an element of the marketing mix theory by telephonic
interview. The answers of the farmers were analysed using various statistical methods and
the following salient results were obtained: All the elements of the marketing mix theory are
important to farmers when deciding on buying a new tractor. The less experienced farmers
rated all the elements of the marketing mix as more important than more experienced
farmers. There was a definitive subset of farmers for whom the more changeable part of the
marketing mix, price and promotion, had a definite impact on their decision. Price and
promotion did not correlate with farmers who viewed the product of high importance. Other
results indicated that the farmers in the test sample bought a new tractor every 2.3 years
with 54% of farmers buying a new tractor in the past year.
The frequency with which farmers buy new tractors shows the importance of the market.
The finding that the elements of the marketing mix theory are important to farmers was
expected and could serve as an incentive for future research. The marketing mix theory is
viewed as highly applicable in this case, due to its relative simplicity and the focus on the
more controllable stimuli on the farmer.
It was also found that for a significant subset of farmers the more modifiable elements had a
definitive impact on their decision when buying a tractor. This offers an opportunity to
marketers willing to respond to changing uncontrollable conditions to influence buying
decisions in the short term.